Everyone groaned, even Rainor. “You woke us up to tell us about a dream?”

  “This is a different kind of dream, Rainor. You don’t understand.” His eyes were bright, and he told them his dream.

  “And so Goél told me what to do,” he finished, and he looked around triumphantly.

  Rainor looked skeptical, but Josh was excited. “I’ve been expecting Goél to visit us, but I thought he’d come in person. So what’s the secret? How do we get to the control tower without getting caught? Did he give you any answer for that?”

  “I don’t know why I didn’t think of it,” Jake said, disgusted with himself. “It’s real simple. How are these annihilators finding us?”

  “Because we’re the only people here not wearing antennas,” Abbey said. “We all know that.”

  “Then what we’ll do—” Jake paused and looked around, grinning broadly “—we’ll have antennas.”

  Everyone was quiet, and then Josh laughed aloud. “It’s funny how things are simple once they are explained. I should have thought of that myself a long time ago.”

  Rainor said, “Wait a minute. You say we can make antennas and all this equipment like Cee Dee’s wearing?”

  “Sure,” Jake said. “Then we walk along like the cyborgs walk, all slow and looking miserable. Then we can go anywhere.”

  “But can we do that?” Rainor asked. “I’m not very good at making things.”

  “That’s my specialty,” Jake said. “You just watch my smoke. First, we’ve got to start getting things together.”

  ∗ ∗ ∗

  Rainor touched the box on his forehead. He felt it gently, then ran his hand up the antenna that extended over his head. “How do I look?” he asked.

  “Looks good to me. But ask Cee Dee. She’s the expert.” Josh grinned. They each had on an imitation antenna.

  Cee Dee admired Jake’s work. “It’s a marvel, Jake. It looks exactly like the real thing!”

  “Well, I don’t want to brag,” Jake said, “but I think I’ve done a pretty fair job myself.”

  It had taken a day and a half of feverish work. Jake and the others had rounded up materials from the city trash heap. Some parts were hard to find, such as those needed for making the antennas. But Jake had finally found heavy wire that he wound into a spiral. Then he put a tiny bulb on the top. It did not work, of course, for there was no electronic device inside the boxes on their foreheads—but it looked good, and that was what counted.

  Josh nodded his approval. “OK. It’s time to make our move.” He turned to Cee Dee, saying, “You’re sure that the Peacemaker has all of his equipment in the tower?”

  “I’ve never been there, but everybody knows that,” Cee Dee said soberly.

  “All right, then.” Josh took a deep breath. “Goél’s given us a chance. We’ll get in there, and we’ll take over the control center. It’s the chance we’ve been waiting for.”

  “Sure,” Jake said. “If we can just get to the control board, we can send out orders. We could tell those annihilators to beat their own brains out, and they’d do it.”

  But Cee Dee at once cried out, “Oh, don’t do that, Jake! They only obey orders. They don’t have any choice any more than the rest of the cyborgs.”

  “That’s right,” Josh said. “We’ve been sent here for more than rescuing Mayfair and now our friends.” He took a deep breath and added solemnly, “All these people need freedom.”

  Cybil knew that Makor was tired of her nagging. He had tried to satisfy her by giving her gifts, but she had locked him out of her chambers.

  However, now she was back, saying again, “We’ve got to get away from this place, Makor. That’s all there is to it.”

  “What would happen to our kingdom!” the Peacemaker exclaimed. “All the slaves. They would be helpless without us.”

  Cybil had seen much earlier that Makor himself was very unhappy. He had been caught up in the cyborg system by the commands of his father and his grandfather. She was sure there was a better side to him somewhere. “Makor, my husband,” she said, “you are the slave.”

  “What nonsense are you talking about?”

  “I mean exactly what I say, husband. Your chains are so heavy that you cannot even leave this place.”

  “I certainly can. I’m the master here.”

  “Good,” Cybil said. “Then let us go.”

  “Well … I can’t leave right now.”

  “No, and you never will,” she said sadly. “I’m sorry. I thought I had begun to see something in you other than a cruel tyrant. Some gentleness. But now I think I must have imagined it.” She hesitated a long time. “I’m leaving, Makor. I’m going back to visit my parents for a long, long time.”

  The Peacemaker cried out in alarm. “You can’t leave!”

  Cybil said quietly, “Would you make me a part of the One, Makor?”

  “Of course not!”

  “I believe you would. You have made slaves of everyone that has ever come into your kingdom. Why should I be any different?”

  “Because—because I love you!”

  “Then you must show me that by becoming another kind of person.”

  “I must do what my father commanded. It was his dying request.”

  “He was not a good man, nor was your grandfather. I know you honor them, but look around your kingdom. Do you see any happiness? You call yourself the Peacemaker, but the cyborg people do not have peace. They are less than human. I am going.”

  “You can’t! You can’t do that!”

  “What kind of life do we have? We are no happier than the cyborgs themselves!” Cybil cried. “You’ll never leave here, Makor. You have become like a cyborg yourself. Good-bye.”

  The Peacemaker stared dumbly after Cybil. He could not believe what was happening, and he was confused. He walked up and down. Then he went to the top of the tower and walked back and forth there. The city was spread out beneath him, acres of buildings. He could see cyborgs walking in their leaden, slow fashion. Makor had exceptionally good eyesight, and he could see the expression, or the lack of it, on their faces. Cybil’s words came back to him. You’ve become a cyborg yourself.

  Angrily he left the tower, unable to bear the memory.

  He was walking down the corridor when a cyborg approached. “Peacemaker, we have captured several insane units.”

  Ordinarily Makor would have taken steps at once to be sure that the captives were transformed into cyborgs. This time he said, “I’ll make the adjustments tomorrow.”

  “Yes, Peacemaker.”

  Makor started to walk on, then suddenly had a thought. “Place 6r9g with them.”

  “Yes, Peacemaker.”

  He walked away, but then stopped suddenly in front of another cyborg. “Come here,” he said.

  The cyborg obeyed instantly. “Yes, Peacemaker.”

  “Are you glad you’re a cyborg?”

  “I am part of the One. I am One.”

  “I know, but are you happy?”

  “I do not know. I am part of the One.”

  Turning away, Makor felt sick. He had seen as if for the first time the blankness in the eyes of his creation. Nothing was there. It was as though the cyborg’s eyes were windows that opened onto a large empty room with absolutely nothing inside. He kept thinking of Cybil’s words, You’ve made mindless slaves out of human beings.

  She was breaking beans into small pieces when the word came. 6r9g, report to location r11/q3.

  At once Sarah rose and left the workroom. She made her way down the street, guided electronically until she came to a building taller than the rest. There the annihilators stopped her, but evidently they then received clearance from the Peacemaker, for they stepped aside. The inner voice directed her into the building. Once inside, she moved woodenly until she came to a door. The cyborg guard opened it.

  Suddenly, Sarah began to hear voices that somehow disturbed her. Then someone was crying, “Sarah!” and hearing that name did something to her. She felt hands touching her as the name was called again. It was as though she were under water, and those about her all seemed but shadowy forms.

  Even as the name continued to be called, memory struggled to come forth. And as Sarah tried to emerge from the dark and blank grayness that had become her mind, she cried out.

  “She’s in pain,” Dave said. “It’s in that antenna thing on her head.”

  “Let me try again,” Wash said. He stood directly in front of Sarah Collingwood and said quietly, “Sarah, can you hear me?”

  But Sarah’s eyes were dead looking, and when she spoke her voice was metallic. It was not like her familiar warm voice at all. “You must become One.”

  They continued to try to speak with her in turn, but no one seemed to make any impact. All she would say was, “You must become One.”

  “She’s having an awful time,” Wash said.

  “And pretty soon we’ll be like her,” Dave said heavily.

  “Not me. I’d rather be dead!” Reb declared.

  “So would I,” Wash said. “Anything would be better than that.” He took Sarah’s hand and held it for a while. “Poor Sarah. You’re like a bird in a cage, and we can’t find a way to open the door and let you out.”

  15

  The Peacemaker’s Visitors

  I’m going with you, and that’s all there is to it!” Abbey’s face was flushed and her back was straight as she faced Josh and Jake. Rainor and Cee Dee stood off to one side, looking somewhat fearful and apprehensive.

  “And I say you’re not going!” Josh said. “It’s way too dangerous, Abbey.”

  “That’s right,” Jake put in. “You girls stay here and take care of yourselves, and we’ll do the men’s work.”

  Abbey’s eyes flashed. Actually she looked very pretty as she stood there—though, to be sure, her good looks were marred by the antenna and the black box with the make-believe lens in it.

  “You prove to me that Goél doesn’t want me to go, and I’ll stay here!” she said.

  Josh spread his hands wide apart in a gesture of helplessness. “You know I can’t do that, Abbey.”

  “I know you can’t, and that’s why I’m going with you, Josh Adams. Where you go, I go!”

  Rainor asked tentatively, “Do you often have fights like this over what to do?”

  “More often than you’d like to know about,” Josh said. He continued to protest, but in the end it was hopeless. He knew that no matter how much he protested, he was not going to win this argument.

  “You can’t leave us here, and if we go we’ll be in no more danger than you are,” Abbey said firmly.

  “I guess she’s right about that,” Rainor said. “If these fake antennas don’t fool anybody, we’re all going to be caught anyhow. They might as well be with us as stuck here.”

  “That’s just what I’ve been trying to tell you!” Abbey snapped. “Now, if we’re through with all of this argument, can we get going?”

  Josh suddenly laughed. “Now, Cee Dee, you’re learning how to be a girl. You just argue until you get your own way.”

  “Is that right?” Cee Dee asked seriously.

  “No. He’s just making fun,” Abbey said. But she smiled, and a dimple appeared in her cheek. “But it works a lot of times.”

  “Are we all set, then?” Jake asked. “Let me check all the antennas and be sure they look authentic.” He went around to each one, making certain that the boxes were firmly fastened on each forehead and that the antennas were not likely to fall out. “Sure does look good. I must say I’ve done a really magnificent job.”

  “You can brag on yourself after this scheme works,” Josh growled. He had been upset over the argument, but now he became very serious. “Here’s what we’ll do. We’ll stay out of the line of view of as many of the annihilators as we can. They’re all going to be checking us, and any one of them might see something that doesn’t look quite right. And that would be it.”

  “Do we go all together, or do we divide up?” Rainor asked, looking around.

  “I don’t think it makes much difference now,” Josh said. “If they spot us, they’ll get us either way.”

  “Then I say we all go together,” Rainor said.

  “I know what will help,” Cee Dee said.

  They all turned to look at her, and it was Abbey who said, “What’s your idea?”

  “We each should get something to carry. That’ll make us look more realistic. It would be even better if we had something big enough to carry on our shoulders, where it would sort of mask the antennas.”

  “That’s a great idea!” Jake exclaimed with a beaming smile. “I’m glad I thought of it.”

  Even Cee Dee grinned at this, for she was quickly learning Jake’s ways.

  “What could we carry?” Rainor asked.

  “They’re always taking all sorts of things into the tower. Bags, boxes, things like that. All we have to do,” Josh said, “is stop in a warehouse and get something bulky.”

  “That won’t be hard. It’ll put the cream on my idea. Let’s get going!” Jake said.

  “Yes,” Rainor echoed, but his face was grim. “I’m anxious to get my hands on this Peacemaker.”

  The preparation did not take long. In the first warehouse they stopped at, they found bags filled with some lightweight material. They lifted the sacks to their shoulders so that they pressed against the antennas.

  Josh looked around at everybody and said, “That looks great. Here we go, single file. I’ll go in front, and you take the rear, Rainor.”

  “Right.”

  And the procession began its way down the street.

  Almost immediately Josh said quietly, “All right, here’s the first test. Everybody be ready. There’s a pair of annihilators standing right ahead of us.”

  “What do we do?” Abbey asked. She was directly behind Josh and probably could see little.

  “Just keep walking.”

  They continued their pace, slow and plodding, in the manner of all the cyborgs.

  “They’re looking at me real closely,” Josh reported quietly.

  “Are they coming this way?” she asked nervously.

  “Not yet. They’re just watching.”

  The procession had almost reached the watching cyborgs. Josh could tell that their dead eyes were fixed on his antenna. He held his breath but did not miss a single step.

  As he reached the annihilators, they stepped aside for the line of burden bearers to pass, and Josh felt a wave of relief. We made it!

  When they were ten steps farther along, he heard Jake saying, “I told you I had a great idea. Maybe I’ll get some kind of award for this.”

  They reached the tower, and Josh said, “Here’s the big test. There are six annihilators right out in front.”

  No one said anything, but Josh knew they were all nervous.

  As the small procession came close, the cyborg guards stepped in front of them. Once again they all seemed to be searching for something, and Josh knew that it was for a unit without an antenna.

  Finally the bulbs in the annihilators’ antennas glowed. They must have received some sort of message, for they all stepped aside, and the steel door leading to the tower opened.

  Josh marched his followers inside, and as soon as the door closed behind them, he said, “So far, so good.”

  “Where do we start?” Jake asked.

  “We’ll search every floor. We don’t want to miss anything.”

  They began walking down the corridors looking into doorways. From time to time they encountered not one of the annihilators but a cyborg dressed in white. These units paid no attention whatsoever to them. Occasionally they did bump into annihilators, who studied them, but apparently the guards were completely deceived by the fake antennas.

  “No controls on this floor,” Josh said. “I guess we’ll move up.”

  They climbed the stairs and searched the second, third, and fourth levels. They found nothing that could be construed as a control center. When they reached level five, he said, “There is only one more level to go. Well, this may have something.”

  “Look at that cyborg,” Cee Dee said.

  Everyone looked, and Jake growled, “What’s special about her?”

  “She’s carrying a silver goblet on a tray. Cyborgs don’t drink out of goblets like that.”

  Josh saw the truth of this. The slaves drank out of very poorly made vessels. “She’s serving somebody important,” he said. “Who’s important on this floor? Let’s follow her.”

  “I hope she’s taking that silver goblet to the Peacemaker,” Rainor said. He pulled out his sword and held it half-raised.

  “Take it easy with that,” Josh warned. “I’m hoping we don’t have to hurt anybody.”

  “I don’t know why you would hope that. He’s not going to turn loose of his kingdom without a fight,” Rainor growled.

  They followed the cyborg servant into a corridor decorated with paintings and bright colors, and Cee Dee whispered, “I’ve never seen beauty like this. Not in the City of the Cyborgs.”

  “It’s pretty fancy. Like a museum, only better,” Jake answered.

  “What’s a museum?” she asked.

  But there was no time to answer. The servant had turned into a doorway.

  Josh followed cautiously, the others at his heels. As soon as they were inside, Josh was struck by the richness of the interior. Everywhere were gold and silver vessels, beautiful paintings, silk-covered furniture—and seated in front of a table, looking into a mirror, was a very beautiful young woman.

  “She has no antenna,” Rainor whispered. “She’s not a cyborg.”

  The woman turned toward them and abruptly pushed aside the female cyborg.

  “I didn’t send for you! Leave!”

  Josh stepped forward and, although he had no intention of using it, he drew his sword.

  The woman’s eyes grew large. “Who are you?” she cried. She reached for a button at the side of the table.

  Josh leaped forward and barred her way. “What’s your name?” he asked.

 

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